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Anjali Arora and Others v. Union of India and Another

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2019 INSC 173Decided 11 Feb 2019
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 333 of 2018
Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman · Justice Navin Sinha

Background

Employees working as Stenographers at the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration sought the same pay-scale parity with Central Government employees that the Supreme Court had earlier granted to different employees (Senior Stenographers) in the 2010 case Yogeshwar Prasad vs. National Institute. They argued they were similarly situated and that the government had, in any case, already extended the same benefit to four other persons who were not even party to that earlier case, which they said amounted to discrimination against them.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that pay parity could only be extended if the petitioners were genuinely similarly situated to the employees in the earlier Yogeshwar Prasad case. On examining the record, it found the petitioners held a lower post (Junior Stenographer/Stenographer Grade-II) than the Senior Stenographers/Stenographer Grade-I post involved in the earlier case, and that two of the three petitioners had only been promoted to the higher grade many years later under subsequent Pay Commissions, while the third had retired without ever being promoted. Since they were not comparably placed, the Court found no merit in the discrimination claim and dismissed the writ petition.

Lesson Learnt

A claim to "equal pay for equal work" or parity with another group succeeds only if the claimant can show they were actually similarly placed (same post, same timeline) as the comparator group: a general resemblance in job title or department is not enough.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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